


True Beauty

by KnightoftheCrow



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M, Permanent Injury, Self Image Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 18:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19481941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightoftheCrow/pseuds/KnightoftheCrow
Summary: Yumichika's face becomes horribly disfigured in battle, making him worry over losing his beauty.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Back from the dead!  
> This was inspired by a tumblr post I saw forever ago about some injury Yumichika had in canon, but I haven't seen that post in a couple years. I've been wanting to work with this idea for a while, and while this isn't my best work or what I originally planned for it, at least I'm writing again. I tried.  
> I've been in a creative slump for a long time now for a variety of reasons, but lately I've been trying to get back into creating content. I hope it goes well lol.

He looked in the mirror, horrified by what he saw. He gingerly touched his face where jagged stitches brought his skin together, the area puffy and various shades of purple and blue. He looked grotesque. He couldn't bear the thought of anyone seeing what was done to his face, so he had sewn it up himself, but now he found himself regretting that decision. He thought about going to the Fourth to see if their healing kidou could help, but... there would probably still be scars. There's only so much kidou could do.

He tried to style his hair in a way that would cover his face, the sleek, dark mask still not completely hiding the damage. He took a deep breath. It was worse before. It's not like he didn't know this would eventually happen; he was in the Eleventh, after all. He just didn't _think_ about it. Maybe he could make his way to the Fourth without anybody recognizing him...


	2. Chapter 2

He quickly made his way through the Seireitei, keeping his head low. If he could just make it there without being seen...

"Ayasegawa?"

Immediately tensing up at the sound of a familiar voice, he froze in his tracks, panic washing over him.

"Ayasegawa?"

Slowly, he looked up to see the owner of that voice walking over to him, his dark hair swaying in the breeze his movement created.

"Lieutenant Hisagi."

"I almost didn't recognize you without all the..." Shuuehi gestured to himself, referring to Yumichika's usual adornments.

"Well, I figured I'd try something different today." He did his best to sound like his normal self, the sound of hiw own voice almost foreign to his ears.

"Uh-huh..." Shuuhei flinched the moment he saw him clearly. "Oh my god, what happened to your face?"

Yumichika swiftly put a hand up to cover himself, walking away from the lieutenant as fast as he could. "Nothing."

Shuuhei ran up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to turn him around. He looked long and hard at his face, his own expression in a painful contortion. "It doesn't look like 'nothing', maybe we could--"

Yumichika pushed him off, giving him a harsh look. "If you tell _anyone,_ I'll make goddamn sure you regret it."

Memories of the past flashed through Shuuhei's mind, making him stiffen up with a quick, "Yes--no, never." 

The fifth seat turned and headed back on his way; "Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've talked about how I post chapters as scenes? Basically, this is a short one shot, no actual chapters, I use the chapter post function as a scene break, especially for my longer fics.


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, he fidgeted with the hakama around his legs. He did his best to hide his injury, but still only the more experienced healers seemed not to react horribly. The door to the exam room opened, prompted his head to whip up in that direction. One of the Fourth came in, a clipboard and some supplies in hand.

"Ayasegawa Yumichika?"

He nodded.

She set the things in her arms down on a nearby table before walking over to him. "Let's see what happened."

Yumichika did his best to resist the urge to hide the ugliness on his face and let her take his head in her hands to gently turn this way and that. She hummed a thoughtful note.

"What is it?"

"Well..." Her tone of voice did not sound too promising. "I really wish you'd have come to us earlier, but looking at it... there's nothing to say we could have completely healed it even then."

"What do you mean?"

She let go of his face, keeping eye contact with him. "It's probably going to scar and there's not much we can do about that."

Yumichika was rendered speechless.

"I'll go ahead and heal it for you and we'll see what happens."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is taking forever to type cuz I suck at typing and keep getting distracted. Also, as a note, the healer isn't anyone in particular, just a random sqaud member.


	4. Chapter 4

He examined himself in the mirror. It had been some days since his last visit to the Fourth. He went at least three separate times, but nothing they could do would fix his... disfigurement. His face would no longer be the same. If only he had been able to get to that Inoue girl, maybe she could have helped.

A knock at the door brought him out of his reverie. "Yumichika?" Shit.

Another knock came, making him quickly try to tidy up his vanity, brushing some of his hair over to cover his face.

"Yumichika?" Another knock. "I'm coming in." The door to his quarters slid open and Yumichika quickly turned from it, dreading the sound of footsteps coming closer. A gentle hand on his shoulder asked him to turn around. "You've been holed up in here for nearly a week. Yumichika, what's wrong?"

He looked at his friend, expecting him to recoil in horror. A moment of silence passed between them and he looked away. A few more moments of unbearable silence passed. His most intimate partner said not a word and he couldn't stand it. That anxiety stabbed at him like a fury he's not sure he's ever known and he snapped. "I get it, I'm hideous! You don't have to say anything."

The other man huffed a breath of annoyance, a look on his face saying these things didn't matter to him much. "Don't be ridiculous. You're beautiful."

Yumichika looked up at him. "You... you really think so?"

A slight blush threatened to creep itself along his face, but he looked into his friend's eyes, sweeping the hair away from his face. "Of course."

"Ikkaku..."

He didn't need to say it, but it needed to be heard. "Yumichika... you're absolutely beautiful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! I'll revisit this idea again someday and I hope I can find that tumblr post again T^T I'll probably try to get out some more little stories like this to get those writing hands all warmed up and working again so that I can (hopefully) go back to the longer fics I've been working on. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this fic, let me know! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this all in one night, it's kinda clunky, and I'm sorry. It was nearly one sitting and it was my birthday, so, uh, yay me for making content again.
> 
> Shoutout to AmazonNinja for their comment on my KomaSen fic! It's honestly what got me to write something so soon. I tried to write for Unconventionally Family, but when I found no way to continue where I left off, I started going through my notes of ideas to see if there was anything I could do to get the creative juices flowing. Thank you so much!


End file.
